Stiff Cowbane
Oxypolis rigidior
Found in bogs, seepages, swamps, wet meadows, streambanks. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 2–5 feet
- Light
- Partial shade, Full shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Wet to standing water
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- August to October
- Fruiting season
- October to November
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 11 West Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in West Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 59 animals.
- Alder FlycatcherEmpidonax alnorum
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Bewick's WrenThryomanes bewickii
- Black-capped ChickadeePoecile atricapillus
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Blue JayCyanocitta cristata
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Carolina ChickadeePoecile carolinensis
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon pyrrhonota
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common RavenCorvus corax
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Dark-eyed JuncoJunco hyemalis
- Double-crested CormorantPhalacrocorax auritus
- Downy WoodpeckerPicoides pubescens
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
Who uses this plant?
2CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Oxypolis
- Papilio polyxenesBlack Swallowtail
- Depressaria cinereocostella
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimBeetles 8
- Centrinus picumnus
- Coccinella sanguinea
- Corticaria distinguenda
- Diabrotica 12-punctata
- Epicauta cinerea
- Epicauta pennsylvanica
- Luperaltica fuscula
- Mordella melaena
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Flies 26
- Agromyza latipes
- Belvosia unifasciata
- Cistogaster occidua
- Euaresta bella
- Exorista confinis
- Gymnosoma fuliginosa
- Helicobia 4-setosa
- Hippelates plebejus
- Hippelates pusio
- Leucopis nigricornis
Show all 26
- Limnophora narona
- Lucilia sericata
- Lucilia sylvarum
- Morellia micans
- Musca domestica
- Ochthera lauta
- Phorantha purpurascens
- Sarcophaga assidua
- Sciara atrata
- Senotainia trilineata
- Siphonella cinerea
- Spallanzania hesperidarum
- Spilomyia longicornis
- Syrphus ribesii
- Trichopoda pennipes
- Zodion nanellum
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Adult butterflies / moths 1
- Limochores taumas
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 30
- Astatus unicolor
- Bruchophagus funebris
- Cerceris clypeata
- Chalybion caeruleum
- Chelonus sericeus
- Chlorion caeruleum
- Cryptocheilus fulgifrons
- Eutrichosoma mirabilis
- Iphiaulax rugator
- Isodontia apicalis
Show all 30
- Leionotus fundatus
- Lindenius errans
- Lyroda subita
- Macrodyctium apicatus
- Microplitis croceipes
- Microplitis gortynae
- Opius fuscipennis
- Oxybelus 4-notatus
- Perilampus fulvicornis
- Polistes rubiginosus
- Polistes variatus
- Priononyx atrata
- Psammochares relativus
- Pseudoplisus phaleratus
- Stizus unicinctus
- Tachysphex belfragei
- Tiphia clypeata
- Tiphia transversa
- Toxoneuron abdominale
- Urosigalphus femoratus
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other insects 2
- Lygus pratensis
- Plagiognathus obscurus
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants
Plant details
- Family
- Apiaceae
- Flower color
- White or pink
- Fruit begins
- October
- Fruit ends
- November
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “August to October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “White or pink” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Fruit begins · “October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “November” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Height · “2–5 feet” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Light · “Partial shade; Full shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Water; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications